COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS INVESTIGATION OF KOREAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS FRASER PUBLISHES KOREAN SCANDAL HEARINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R000600050007-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 24, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: September 27, 1978
• Content Type: PREL

Approved For Release 2004/07/08 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R000600050007-4
INVESTIGATION OF KOREAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
by the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANI7ATIONS
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Robert B. Boettcher
September 27, 1978 [phone]
FRASER PUBLISHES KOREAN SCANDAL HEARINGS
Rep. Donald M. Fraser (D-Minn.) today announced the publication of Part 4 of
hearings in the Investigation of Korean-American Relations, held in seven sessions
between March and June, 1978, by the Subcommittee on International Organizations,
which Fraser chairs. Witnesses included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,
former Attorney General John Mitchell, and former Ambassador to Korea William Porter.
The testimony and supporting documents established the following points:
(1)
The South Korean Government, concerned about the implications
of the cutback of U.S. troops in Korea, perceived a lessening
in the U.S. commitment to Korean security. Although Executive
Branch officials assured the South Koreans of military moderni-
zation aid from the U.S. to compensate for the troop reduction,
the Koreans could not be certain that the money would be approved
by Congress.
(2) In direct response to those concerns, President Park Chung Hee
and his top advisers devised a plan to coordinate from the top
of their government a major lobbying and influence effort in
Washington. U.S. intelligence summaries (released during the
hearings) reveal that among those whose activities would be
used in the influence scheme were Tongsun Park, the KCIA's Lee
Sang Ho, General Kang Young Hoon and his Research Institute on
Korean Affairs, and Pak Bo Hi, a top adviser to Rev. Sun Myung
Moon of the Unification Church. Subsequent testimony and re-
lease of many documents (including a special Supplement to the
hearings published in March) elaborated on the uses made of
these individuals to attain the South Korean government's goals.
(3) As early as 1970, Executive Branch officials had detailed infor-
mation about South Korean influence plans and activities. Intel-
ligence reports cited during the March hearings established that
Washington officials were informed during the 1970-73 period that:
(a) Plans for influencing U.S. officials and policy had
been devised at the top level of the Blue House;
(b) Two named Congressional staff members were under the
control of the KCIA;
(c) Named Congressmen were involved in questionable busi-
ness transactions with Tongsun Park, including the
manipulation of U.S. PL 480 rice sales to Korea;
(d) It was alleged that a contribution of several hundred
thousand dollars had been made by the Korean-government
to the 1968 national Democratic campaign; and
(e) Tongsun Park was operating under the KCIA Director and
other high Korean government officials in. his contacts
with Members of Congress and-in his business dealings.
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(4) There was an initiative in 1971 by the State Department to have
an investigation of one aspect of the influence activities --
the activities of Radio of Free Asia. Testimony from former
State and Justice Department officials established that the FBI's
investigation was perfunctory and had not addressed all of the
issues raised by State's concern.
In commenting today on these matters, Fraser drew attention to a statement he
had made during the first day of these hearings:
The Executive Branch failed to take adequate measures to halt
or prevent questionable Korean activities in this country. Initia-
tives for action pursuant to the intelligence reports were sporadic,
half-hearted, and inconclusive, with the result that Korean activities
which were both improper and illegal continued to expand and gain
momentum for some five years.
Fraser noted that inattention to these matters probably registered in Seoul as a
"green light" to continue the influence activities for the next several years, with
near-disastrous results for Korean-American relations after the scandal broke in 1976.
He drew attention to statements at the hearings by Ambassador Porter attributing
Washington's inattention to questionable Korean activities to a "permissive" attitude
in the Executive Branch resulting from a "lack of desire to make things difficult for
an ally who was contributing so much to the Vietnam effort."
Another aspect of the Part 4 hearings is the testimony of Pak Bo Hi, Rev. Moon's
top aide. In four tedious sessions the Subcommittee heard Pak deliver lengthy open-
ing statements denouncing the Subcommittee, its investigation, and its Chairman. He
accused the Chairman of being a communist, and called him "an instrument of the Devil,"
a nd "a second Benedict' Arnold." The Subcommittee nonetheless managed to elicit rele-
vant information from Pak, including the following points:
-- Pak received $3,000 from a KCIA official, which he explained
as a reimbursement to a Unification Church member for services
performed on behalf of the Korean government.
-- Pak arranged in 1970 through a top aide to President Park Chung
Hee for the President to sign and send 60,000 letters to Ameri-
can contributors to Radio of Free Asia, a project of the U.S.-
based, tax-exempt Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, and
whose broadcasts were controlled by the KCIA.
Pak received $223,000 between 1972 and 1975, which he said were
loans from a Japanese Unification Church member. Promissory
notes for the loans were not prepared until 1978. Part of this
money was used to purchase stock in the Diplomat National Bank
in the name of Pak and his housekeeper.
-- Pak provided an additional $738,000 in cash to purchase stock
in the Diplomat National Bank in the names of various members
of the Unification Church, and $100,000 in cash to enable Charles
Kim, chairman of the board of the bank, to buy bank stock.
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